Rangers' Patient Defensive Approach Leads To Win Over Blues

The New York Rangers snapped their four-game losing streak with a pivotal 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.

Mike Sullivan always preaches that there’s a big difference between losing while playing with the right intentions, as opposed to losing due to a lack of awareness and attention to detail.

During the Rangers’ most recent three-game road trip, the team lost all three games, but more importantly, their structured defensive identity that Sullivan spent so long trying to implement suddenly dissolved and was nonexistent.

“When you look at the last handful of games versus the first dozen or so games that we played throughout the course of the year, I think we're two different teams,” Sullivan said. “The reasons for that, I think, there's a lot. When you look at the first dozen or so games, I think we were controlling games. We were outplaying teams.

“We were defending hard. We were one of the stingier teams defensively in the league. I think we generated a lot of offense. We just didn't score a lot of goals. The last handful of games, I think, we're chasing offense – and as a result, we're not getting as much, and we're giving up a whole lot more. And I don't think that's a recipe for success.”

It was a different story for the Rangers on Monday night.

Even when the Blues took a 1-0 lead in the first period despite an onslaught of initial pressure from the Rangers, they didn’t panic and instead stuck to their system, not trying to force any offense.

The Rangers’ overall patience paid off with Vincent Trocheck scoring the team’s first goal in the second period.

Their momentum carried into the final frame, where Alexis Lafrenière and Adam Edström broke the game open with goals of their own.

Last season, the Rangers had a tendency to give up an abundance of high-quality scoring chances due to their overall lack of defensive discipline, costly turnovers, and a trend to chase offense.

Those bad habits began to creep back into the Rangers’ game as the noise of their lack of offensive success grew louder.

Against the Blues, New York took a patient defensive approach, sticking to their structure, which Sullivan believes helped them flip the switch.

“I thought we did a way better job just taking care of the puck,” Sullivan said. “I thought we defended hard. I thought our intentions were in the right place and, as a result, I thought it was a much lower-event game. We weren't trading chance by chance or opening the game up and giving a ridiculous amount of high quality looks. You play the game the right way, you can create your offense through your defense.”

Brett Berard Ready To Make Immediate Impact For Rangers Upon Call-Up Brett Berard is back in the fold for the New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers/">Rangers</a> after getting called up from the Hartford Wolf Pack on Sunday.&nbsp;

All three of the Rangers’ goals were generated by defensemen. On the first goal, Adam Fox delivered a pinpoint breakout pass to Jonny Brodzinski, which led to a 2-on-1 chance where Trocheck found the back of the net.

Gavrikov recorded the next two assists, first with a shot from the point that was tipped in by Lafrenière and then he pinched to the back of the net, feeding Edström for a goal.

The Rangers were able to generate through their blueliners, and that is an important element to their game that they must try and maintain.

“It's something that we practice a fair amount,” Sullivan on attempting to get his defensemen involved offensively. “It's hard in today's game to create offense in the absence of five-minute participation… It's hard to create a consistent offense if you don't get your defenseman involved.

“We're trying to do it in a calculated manner, so we don't turn into a high-risk group, but I think it's essential that we get them involved, and we have strategies and tactics of how to do it and practice it weekly.”

Brett Berard made his season debut for the Rangers after getting called up from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League on Sunday.

The 23-year-old forward recorded 9:21 minutes He played on a line alongside Noah Laba and Conor Sheary.

Aside from committing a high-sticking penalty late in the contest, Berard showed flashes of promise, providing the team with a spark through his speed and physical style of play.

“I really liked his energy,” Sullivan said of Berard. “I thought he brought some speed. He had a couple of good looks at the net. He can shoot the puck. He's a good kid, he plays hard. We anticipated that he would bring some juice, and he did.”

The Rangers will look to carry this newfound momentum on Wednesday night when they face off against the Carolina Hurricanes.